Sherburne County Heritage Center Interpretive Plan Final Report 2005

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Interpretive Plan for Sherburne County Heritage Center Sherburne County Historical Society Background Tom Woods, Ph.D., Making Sense of Place, Inc., (MSP) was contracted by the Sherburne County Historical Society to create an Interpretive Plan for the new Sherburne County Heritage Center. To further the planning process, which began with reviewing previous project -related documents, Dr. Woods facilitated a Community Advisory Interpretive Planning Committee retreat at the Becker High School from October 7-9, 2004. The retreat focused on creating a Community Advisory Committee, then building a common perception of the process of interpretive planning and developing an initial consensus about the topics, main theme, associated themes, stories, audiences, and interpretive strategies for three components: Heritage Center Exhibit Gallery, Historic Farmstead Ruins, and Outdoor Trail. To test and verify the initial ideas about subjects and experiences generated during the planning process, MSP conducted an audience study to discover what stories and interpretive methods would most likely interest the potential audience for the Heritage Center. SCHS identified four major target audiences for the Heritage Center exhibit and programs: SCHS members, county families with young children, school students, and seniors. To gather information about these target audiences' preferences, G. Donald Adams of Sanibel, Florida, an audience research associate of MSP, developed and worked with SCHS to conduct three surveys: a mail -in member survey, a personal intercept survey, and a mail -in teachers' survey. SCHS was very successful in implementing the survey instruments and a high percentage of surveys were returned, lending great credibility and statistical'significance to survey results. To verify the results from these surveys and gather additional information, MSP and SCHS collaborated in conducting stakeholder interviews and focused audience conversations. To further support program decision -making, MSP gathered information from stakeholders on the image of SCHS, how the Heritage Center's success will be judged, and how its operations should be supported. Dr. Woods conducted twenty telephone, e-mail and face-to- face interviews with people in the community defined as stakeholders who could help the Heritage Center succeed. SCHS developed a volunteer Audience Discovery Team. The Audience Discovery Team was divided into two person teams that conducted fifteen focused conversations with Sherburne County residents who represented target audience segments. Audience Audience and stakeholder conversations and surveys provide a fairly consistent snapshot of the kinds of stories the Heritage Center's audience wants to learn more about. The great majority of those contacted in the audience study have a consistently high interest in pioneer life and American Indian history of the area. Their interest in pioneer life extends to an interest in early families and their contributions to the area's history. The audience is also particularly interested in the Red River Oxcart Trail and the area's transportation history and in programming about the natural history of the area in indoor exhibits and interpreted trails. Sherburne County Historical Society Heritage Center Interpretive Plan, April 21, 2005, page 2